[Signing] Flames sign college free agent Tyson Gross to 2 year ELC

[Lanny_McDonald]

Now the Flames just have to work on the player development aspect of the capital/drafting/development triangle. Love what I have heard from Wyttenbach and the engagement the Flames have in his development. Seems Conroy has everything moving in the right direction by trusting his people to do their jobs at the best of their ability and support them accordingly. Would be great if we see more of our picks continue to develop quickly and over-perform. Could turn things around quickly.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I think these guys likely have the upside of 3rd line centers.
The club still needs a true topline center.

Sure, but I don't want them to do anything rash and pass over guys at other positions they assess to have higher ceilings in favour of positional need.

Not to say that they would do that, but the more centres in the organisation (and more high draft picks) hopefully lessens the temptation to do so.

[topfiverecords]

It's always a good idea to have a good stock of spare third line centers that you can use to pry 1st round picks out of whatever team Treliving is GM of in the future.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

for sure. Otto may be a top10 college UFA of all time
Oates, Mullen, Belfour, Boyle off the top of my head; i'm sure there are many i wasn't aware of

edit Krug, Bozak and Tanev

Some other names

Martin St. Louis
Brian Rafalski
Curtis Joseph
Chris Kunitz
John Madden

[Enoch Root]

Obviously, different guys have different expectations and different ceilings. Not all guys are acquired in the hopes that they'll be top liners, which is fine, because there are different roles to fill.

The way I would rank the current C prospects in the organization:

Elite ceiling / top line expectation: ---
Top line ceiling / top 6 expectation: Reschny, Potter
Top 6 ceiling / middle 6 expectation: Stockselius
Middle 6 ceiling / bottom 6 expectation: Castagna, Gross
Bottom 6 ceiling / tweener expectation: King, Curran

(sorry Tacoman - I hope I am under-rating him)

The Flames still need an elite C to fill the bingo card.

Also, you acquire as many as possible, because occasionally, guys exceed expectations.

[Fire]

Being 23 already he's a long shot to make the NHL, but no risk besides the roster spot.

[3thirty]

Originally Posted by Fire

Being 23 already he's a long shot to make the NHL, but no risk besides the roster spot.

Colin Graf says otherwise, but he was two years younger.

Late bloomers never hurt with his size, speed and FO ability. Especially at this acquisition cost.

[Burninator]

Love when we sign local guys that grew up Flames fans. Dream come true for them.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Conroy certainly has enough draft chips to move for a good, young centre already in the NHL if he wants to expedite the rebuild timeline.

[gvitaly]

How much higher are the expectations compared to 24 year old Morton, 2 years ago?

Morton had 24G, 34P in 37GP
Gross has 18G, 41P in 36GP

It just feels like Morton had way too short of a runway to carve himself an NHL role, as often is the case with this sort of signings.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

How much higher are the expectations compared to 24 year old Morton, 2 years ago?

Morton had 24G, 34P in 37GP
Gross has 18G, 41P in 36GP

It just feels like Morton had way too short of a runway to carve himself an NHL role, as often is the case with this sort of signings.

Where did Morton rank in the NCAA scoring at the time? Some years are just different than others.

But at the end of the day, it's a free shot at someone who could blossom.

[Bingo]

Can't believe Spencer Foo wasn't mentioned today!

[Circa89]

Man did i just go down a rabbit hole... the last time ( i remember) we signed a highly touted/ sought after College free agent it was Spencer Foo. He is still playing Pro Hockey in the KHL with the Kunlun Red Star ( now the Shanghai Dragons).
Kunlun Roster in 19/20 had former NHL's of Foo, Brandon Yip, Adam Cracknell, Gilbert Brule, Devante Smith-Pelly, jake Chelios, Andrei Sustr, Wojtek Wolski, Griffin Reinhart.... who knew there was even a Pro team in China.... Good Luck Mr.Gross if it doesnt work out here there is always the Shanghai Dragons to fall back on.

[Circa89]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Can't believe Spencer Foo wasn't mentioned today!

haha i was going down the rabbit hole, when you posted.

[The EBUG's EBUG]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

How much higher are the expectations compared to 24 year old Morton, 2 years ago?

Morton had 24G, 34P in 37GP
Gross has 18G, 41P in 36GP

It just feels like Morton had way too short of a runway to carve himself an NHL role, as often is the case with this sort of signings.

Gross strikes me as a more of a late blooming. toolsy player with good speed, size, shot, etc (albeit from the very limited viewings) whereas Morton seems like he's gotten to where he is on IQ and effort.

That would give me some optimism that Gross might be able to carve out a bigger role if he's able to put the package together at the next level. Still a lottery ticket but if I were him I'd be trying to become Calgary's Cody Glass, think that would be an ideal target for a player like this.

Very much agree on the lack of runway front and I don't think Morton's the only one...

[Bingo]

Lots of green on this chart!

https://twitter.com/user/status/2032144554711773490

Transition ... shooting ... play driving.

Maybe more upside than thought.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Circa89

Man did i just go down a rabbit hole... the last time ( i remember) we signed a highly touted/ sought after College free agent it was Spencer Foo. He is still playing Pro Hockey in the KHL with the Kunlun Red Star ( now the Shanghai Dragons).
Kunlun Roster in 19/20 had former NHL's of Foo, Brandon Yip, Adam Cracknell, Gilbert Brule, Devante Smith-Pelly, jake Chelios, Andrei Sustr, Wojtek Wolski, Griffin Reinhart.... who knew there was even a Pro team in China.... Good Luck Mr.Gross if it doesnt work out here there is always the Shanghai Dragons to fall back on.

They play most of their "home" games in St. Petersburg, Russia. This year they played a few games in China and I think the long term plan is to have them there full time, but right now they are branded as a Chinese team, but are not really one.

[stemit14]

Who are the upcoming RFAs and UFAs on the Wranglers this summer? With signings like this and the boatload of picks the flames are about to make, I wonder if it means more AHL players may not be given qualifying offers. Have to start making room for all these prospects that are already in the system and are about to enter the system.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by stemit14

Who are the upcoming RFAs and UFAs on the Wranglers this summer? With signings like this and the boatload of picks the flames are about to make, I wonder if it means more AHL players may not be given qualifying offers. Have to start making room for all these prospects that are already in the system and are about to enter the system.

Good problem to have!

A long way since the days of having to cobble together a handful of undrafted junior players to stock a shared AHL team in Lowell!

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Conroy certainly has enough draft chips to move for a good, young centre already in the NHL if he wants to expedite the rebuild timeline.

I think that he should. Pulling up from a tailspin, and making this roster anything better than awful is going to take a lot longer than acceptable. Tearing down is the easiest part, building back up is the hard part.